Criminal InJustice† is a weekly series devoted to taking action against inequities in the U.S. criminal justice system. Nancy A. Heitzeg, Professor of Sociology and Race/Ethnicity, is the Editor of CI. Criminal InJustice is published every Wednesday at 6 pm CST. Criminal Injustice: Giving Thanks By Kay Whitlock Tonight, Criminal…
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From ThinkProgress: Last week, a federal court in Mississippi sentenced a key figure in a $3 million mortgage fraud scheme to two and a half years in federal prison. Just a few days earlier, however, a Mississippi federal judge imposed a significantly harsher sentence on a woman who lied on…
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From McClatchy: Black and Asian adolescents are much less likely than their white peers to abuse or become dependent on drugs and alcohol, according to a Duke University-led study based on an unusually large sample from all 50 states. “There is certainly still a myth out there that black kids…
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From the Institute for Southern Studies: How much money does it cost to buy a judge? More than ever, according to a new report which finds that spending on state high court elections skyrocketed in 2009-2010, especially from outside interest groups. The study conducted by several advocacy groups found that…
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From the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign: A new report has been released by three nonpartisan legal reform groups about the unprecedented national attack on state courts. The report warns that “the story of the 2009-10 elections, and their aftermath in state legislatures in 2011, reveals a coalescing national campaign that seeks…
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From The Root: Close your eyes. Can you remember what you were doing in October of 1991? Zoom in on the crisp fall days of the Senate hearings when Anita Hill stood up and told her truth. Can you see it? I can. I was a senior at Yale, and…
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From The Root: The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from the Philadelphia district attorney’s office in the racially charged case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, bringing an end to nearly 30 years of litigation over the fairness of the sentencing hearing that resulted in his death sentence for the 1981 shooting…
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The Blackwoman went silent for most of the day yesterday. For me, the scream is not protest. For this Blackwoman the scream is the fuel that feeds the engines of hatred, callousness,ignorance and fear. Just as anger rather than dissipate, fuels the flames of dissension. The scream is part of…
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